Larger than Life: Rhonas the Indomitable

Commander / EDH Matrixxx999

SCORE: 119 | 80 COMMENTS | 17072 VIEWS | IN 46 FOLDERS


Ninja_T0-_-0 says... #1

Just personal opinion here but, I definitely think Omnath, Locus of Mana would work better as you commander in this deck. Buffing him will take less time to kill people with commander damage as opposed to normal combat damage. An infinite manna combo would buff him just as well as Rhonas' ability, there just isn't as many steps/Vulnerabilities to the Win Con.

August 16, 2017 6:12 a.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #2

Thank you very much for Your comment and for upvote! I really appreciate it!

Omnath is a fantastic creature without a doubt. Thats why he is the most popular mono-green commander and that's why I use him in my deck. But, I will try to explain why I chose Rhonas instead of Omnath.

  • very often Omnath needs trample to kill ONE opponent with commander damage, because even one 1/1 token can easily block him. So You can't say that with infinite mana he can kill the table with commander damage. Wile Rhonas with infinite mana (for example with Selvala) kills at least one opponent inevitably. And if You have more creatures then You just kill everyone. Omnath is not capable of doing this cuz infinite mana bufs only him alone and he lacks trample.
  • This deck contains a package of creature removal spells (some of them are repeatable) which won't work with Omnath because he don't have decent deathtouch and indestructible ability. It is another fantastic synergy for agro Rhonas, because he can easily shoot annoying creatures and blockers. Not to mention that Rhonas can ping on instant Your Protean Hulk if You lack of sac outlets.
  • Rhonas provides a stable 5/5 body at t2 easily, so on t3 You have the opportunity to get additional cards/mana from his body if You need to. Thus I think that for an early game his a bit faster then Omnath.

In any case, I will follow your advice and try to create a deck with Omnath as a commander. But it will be a bit different deck I suppose.

Thanks again!

August 16, 2017 8:12 a.m.

Snivy__ says... #3

Why is the deck called Larger than Life when it's not running the card Larger Than Life?

August 16, 2017 10:38 a.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #4

Hehe. Agree, I missed this card from the view, thank you for the hint, maybe I will use it as a featured card for the deck. :)

August 16, 2017 11:08 a.m.

Mike94 says... #5

If you are already running Snow-Covered Forests why not Extraplanar Lens to abuse them??

August 16, 2017 4:14 p.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #6

I use Snow-Covered Forest mainly because other players can play Extraplanar Lens for extra mana from their own snow forests, so I could use it too.

But I think I'll try the Lens in my tests, thank You for the suggestion!

August 16, 2017 4:40 p.m.

Winterblast says... #7

I play Rhonas as one of my decks as well and while it looks weird at first, it really has high potential for a quick kill. You just shouldn't forget one thing, which is that the odds are not in your favour when you play aggro in commander.

I've played my Rhonas twice yesterday and I can only say the most powerful Support creature is definitely Pathbreaker Ibex. If that one resolves and attacks once, at least one opponent is gone for sure. Turn 4 should be the goal, later if it's backed up with removal and protection, because that's when you probably lose to a real combo deck or when control removes all your important stuff. You could do well without the few artifacts you have (maybe Keep the mana artifacts, but not necessarily) and Play Carpet of Flowers, Root Maze, Null Rod and Molder Slug instead. Choke and Prowling Serpopard help to keep the majority of (objectively) better commander decks in check.

You can use Berserk on rhonas everytime and he won't die. Invigorate, Vines of Vastwood, Phytoburst and Might of Old Krosa can easily push through a lot of commander dmg to make the blocks in the mid game already difficult for every defending opponent. I would also say that Triumph of the Hordes and Overwhelming Stampede are a must in green decks that win with combat damage.

August 17, 2017 8:11 a.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #8

Hi Winterblast! You suggested a huge amount of interesting cards! Thank You very much!

And it is very important for me to listen to the opinion of another Rhonas player.

I completely agree with you about the fact that playing agro in 4 man pod full of super fast combo decks has a little chance for victory. Odds become much better when you use infection. But I want to avoid using infection in this deck. That's why It isn't a pure agro deck. I am trying to create a hybrid of combo, control and agro. Maybe its crazy, but I always liked to create versatile decks and for now, the deck works really good.

Yes, from the first glance Rhonas seems like "what? is it playable at all?". But his potential is huge, he can bring early agro pressure, with infection he's insane, he provide decent creature removal for mono-green, he's super cheap body provide greate synergies with a lot of green spells for additional cards/mana/damage, and he is a win con by it self, so combo decks will love him too... When I started to play with the raw version of this deck with my playgroup, they were shocked how fast and dangerous it is.

  • Pathbreaker Ibex - it was in maybe and tests. Great creature, maybe I'll try it again.
  • I am really like the stax pieces you suggested, actually right before Your comment I added to the maybe Winter Orb and Thorn of Amethyst, these cards could be so mean in this deck.
  • I used Berserk in this deck before, and it wasn't so good as it seems, in infectious deck it is a decent finisher, but not in this one. The same goes to the other one-shot buffing spells.

Thanks a lot for all your suggestion! Actually, I would hear Your thoughts about possible cuts in the deck for stax cards.

August 17, 2017 9:59 a.m.

Snap157 says... #9

With only 15 non-permanents in the deck, have you ever considered Genisis Wave? +1

August 19, 2017 8:46 p.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #10

Hi! Thanks a lot for your comment and upvote!

In the early version of the deck I used Genesis Hydra and yes, I have considered Genisis Wave, but I didn't test it. I realy like this card, It usualy ends the game. I'll think about testing it. Thanks for your suggestion.

August 20, 2017 1:33 a.m.

Ilmu011 says... #11

I'm just gonna add a bunch to the suggestions.

Ezuri, Renegade Leader: You have quite many Elves, and his mass buff effect can be cheaper than your commanders. That said, Overrun or Overwhelming Stampede are both spells from the Guided by Nature Deck you could consider as Win-Conditions. Thunderfoot Baloth is also great! Even if you don't consider the other previous cards, I would highly recommend, to put Thunderfoot Baloth into your deck!

You want some infinite mana combos?

Well, voila:

Elvish Archdruid or Priest of Titania or Wirewood Channeler + Sword of the Paruns + More Than 3 Elves on Board = Infinite Mana!!

Also, you may want to have more Elves on the battlefield, Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury,or Imperious Perfect alongside Parallel Lives or Second Harvest may achieve this, but since you are not running a lot of Token-Creators, you may want to stay away from the prevoius two cards.

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar may also be a convenient choice, as she can provide more targets for your mass-buffs, alongside granting a small AoE-Buff itself.

As one could tell, most of these ideas come from my own deck Guided by Nature Edit. :P

August 20, 2017 4:47 p.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #12

Hi, Ilmu011! Thank you for your time spent watching at the deck, and all the suggestions.

  • Ezuri, Renegade Leader would be a good creature to sink all the mana, in that case he would be a wining condition and only with inf. mana (I think that Rhonas as a commander is more than enough for that). So to be realy useful in this build Ezuri should be good outside of inf. combo... I do have a lot of elves in the deck but also I have even more nonelves creatures. So in this build Rhonas is much more versatile than Ezuri. It is just in my opinion that Ezuri shines in elf trible build, and preferably as a commander.

  • Overwhelming Stampede - Absolutely agree, this is a very good spell, especialy when I have an impressive board presence. It was in maybe for some time, but if I will add it to the deck what should I cut for it?

  • Thunderfoot Baloth - I realy like this creature, and it was in maybe for a looooong period of time, I'll definitely think about using it in 99. Again, what would You cut for it?

  • Priest of Titania is already in the deck and I actualy already run very similiar combos but with umbral mantle. Sword of the Paruns is quite slow and it needs 10 mana to go off. As an alternative to Umbral Mantle I think that Staff of Domination would be better.

  • Nissa, Voice of Zendikar looks awesome, I will try to test her in the build.

August 20, 2017 6:04 p.m.

ChrisKrow says... #13

Insane deck tech, props and an upvote to you.

By the Way, I made a Rhonas the Indomitable deck,but i features the fight mechanic, making the deck a control idiot. Do check it out and leave a comment or an upvote!

August 22, 2017 10:45 p.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #14

Thanks a lot, I'll look at Your deck right now.

August 22, 2017 10:59 p.m.

ChrisKrow says... #15

Thank you! It should be good reference.

August 23, 2017 12:42 a.m.

ChrisKrow says... #16

Just curious, how did you get so popular and so many views?

August 24, 2017 6:03 a.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #17

Oh, I think it is thanks to feature tokens and deckcycle.

August 24, 2017 6:44 a.m.

ChrisKrow says... #18

How do I do the coding?

August 24, 2017 7:50 p.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #19

I can suggest these sources for coding:

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/username-and-profile-customization-tutorial/

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/user-page-beginner/

August 24, 2017 11:54 p.m.

Hi, Matrixxx999

Traverse the Outlands - I think you must put it in mate.

August 27, 2017 8:54 p.m.

Matrixxx999 says... #21

Great suggestion my friend!

I actualy was interested for Traverse the Outlands from the moment I saw this card. It was in maybe for a long time.

So, what to cut for it? Maybe Soul's Majesty?

August 27, 2017 11:41 p.m.
  • Soul's Majesty - this one can be cut it is too mana heavy, and you already have Life's Legacy wich is much better imho.

  • Carpet of Flowers - nice card but can be dead draw if your opponents doesnt use islands. Plus from all my game experience your deck almoust never have any problems with mana.

Btw what about Living Wish? It can virtually expand your deck to 110 cards, that gives you many more and diverse options to deal with a given game state.

August 28, 2017 12:04 a.m. Edited.

Matrixxx999 says... #23

Yes, Living Wish is a good addition(s), I used it in my Kruphix deck, maybe I'll try it here too.

Carpet of Flowers proved its value many times, actually You saw it yourself. In competitive meta it shines even more. But I'll think about it.

August 28, 2017 12:16 a.m.
  • Heroic Intervention - I would recommend you add this spell to protect your permamnents (especially creatures) from boardwipes and spot removals.

  • Uncage the Menagerie - what about this one? lets say you put in you will tutor 7 creatures and if you already have Concordant Crossroads on the field and one mana you will be able to put them all on the field in one go.

August 29, 2017 5:40 p.m. Edited.
August 29, 2017 7:11 p.m.

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